A few of my faves because I like the way it sounds.
bonco= It is used in Cuba to refer to a close friend or also attractive men
cobio= Cuban
choche= Peru
chompiras= Mexican
gomia= Argentina
mano= Guatemala
How often do you feel so alone in your trial or situation that even amoung your friends, you feel like there is no one that can relate? How often do we go to everyone else to carry our burdens or hear our sob stories of past and present trials hoping that they can make it all better? How often do we keep our hardships to our selves and hope no one asks because we are ashamed of the things we are facing? How often do we fall into the same trap of lies that we don't matter to God?
Guilty. I tend to either hold everything in until I have to burst or I only share enough so that people don't inquire. It's to easy to be hurt by being vulnerable. It's to easy to wonder if your words are being heard. But, we have been given a true example of friendship in the bible. I'm so baffled at how God continued to pursue and use those who constantly disobeyed Him. I'm in awe that Jesus intercedes for us, that He desires to dine with us. We are seen clean and sinless at the table of the Lord. Such comfort to know that His grace has no bounds, that I'm no longer bound by my sin but completely set free and made white as snow.
I'm challenged to be more like Jesus when I think of the type of friend He is. When He was in flesh on earth he sought the lonely and lost, he sought the sojourners and the weary burdened. He reached out to the ones who hid and where ashamed of their sin. He desired for God to be glorified so that those who spat at him, whipped him and cursed him even unto death on the cross would have a chance to know and be known by His Father. His desires where only to please His Father, His mission was to share His love and His ministry was to share that God is love and grace abounds.
"Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold all things have become new."
2 Corinthians 5:17
I've been attending a study on Mondays night at my church called LIFT and this past week the pastor shared a great message from Joshua 10, on what a type of friend Jesus is. He is die-hard, devoted, dedicated, determined and distinguished. I want to be more like Jesus. As much as I desire these things in my friends, I want to be them for my friends.
One of my favorite hymns,
"What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear! What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer! O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. "
We have direct access to talk to God whenever and wherever. That is pretty sweet :) Isn't it so cool that God desires to be our friends. He wants to meet with His children. He wants for us to sit at His feet and hear His response of adoration and love. He wants us to be still so that we can see His great work and great plan unfold. Being still can be super difficult at times. I usually act like a small child who is in line for that deep fried ice cream cone on a hot summery day at the fair. In complete anticipation for something cold and comforting to embrace my tastebuds and meet my sugary needs. So excited and in wonder if in fact this thing that I'm waiting for is going to be all that I hoped for and all that the ones in front of me have proclaimed it to be. Sometimes waiting for Jesus to meet with me can seem like a visit with the principle office, your all alone and your really not sure what will take place once you get there. But that is a misconstrued idea of who God is, if i'm more anxious to hear from God than excited. It can seem almost a torture to be still before God. I'm not sure why, but this is something I've had to be challenged in not comparing my disappointments in humans to the faithful and good God.
"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you" Matthew 7:7
We desire in friendships what we need the most.
"a friend loves at all times" Proverbs 17:17
"a man who has friends must himself be friendly, But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother" Proverbs 18:24
"He who loves purity of heart, and whose speech is gracious, will have the king as his friend." Proverbs 22:11
"greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends" John 15:13
"You are my friends if you do what I command you" John 15:14
"No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made know to you"
John 15:15
Jesus is the best of friends
He always has our backs
He is faithful and true.
"Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you." Psalm 139:16-18
Let Him carry your burdens and be that shoulder to cry on. Let Him make you into a friend that is faithful and uplifting. Let Him see your heart so that He may refine it and make it more like His.
This is my plea....
"Search me, O God, and KNOW my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!" Psalm 139:23&24
Only Jesus will ever satisfy. If we are not looking to Jesus for true friendship, we will never know how to be a true friend.
"Everyone needs a best friend. His name is Lord and He is in constant pursuit of us." Chet Lowe- LIFT bible study
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Something the Lord gave me.
Forever my beloved
"He is constant and faithful
He is forever my beloved
I've ran down paths without looking back,
I've stumbled and fallen
I've seen storms arise and seas part
I've been given a staff and thy rod comforts me
In harms way, weak walks and dry lands
Blood shed, burdens carried, washed white as snow
My true friend
I have broken laws
brought shame to His name
I've grieved for my sins
I've found strength in His truth
I've failed a thousand times
Still, He is still
Still, He is good
Still, He is grace
Still, He is God
He is constant and faithful
He is forever my beloved "
-M.L.
If you have any prayer requests, send them my way, I'd love to pray for you.
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